As a Cinephile, I often find myself spending most of my time watching films with the same old group of friends: Seth, Karl, Chad, Luke, and the Jareds. We have a ton of crossover in our film interests, enjoyment of associated activities, and we all live within about a 20 min drive. No one, and I mean NO ONE, has had as strong an impact on my film tastes than Chad and Seth.
I remark often that I feel we have one of the best informal movie clubs anywhere. As Thanksgiving arrives this year, I find that the thing I am most thankful for is this group of friends. We may not always agree and even have to work out personality clashes at times but. in the end, I can’t imagine my life without my film community.
There’s a dark side to this, though. I spend so much time watching things with them that the times I spend watching films with my family have grown fewer and farther between. Some of this is very natural. I don’t live with my family anymore. I work a lot more than I used too. We now have young children at family gatherings. We have less crossover in the films we enjoy. All of these are reasons we don’t gather as often for a family movie night.
Part of the magic of the Holidays for me as a child was watching the same old commercial laden VHS copies of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “Miracle on 34th Street” and “Scrooge.” As these moments have grown less frequent so has my feeling of holiday cheer, over the years.
This is my reminder to all of us, myself included, that, regardless of faith tradition, much of the holiday season’s deepest meanings revolve around family. So, if you are near enough to them, be sure to set up times to enjoy films not alone or with friends, but with the fam, old school. Set up a time to get together and bake Christmas cookies while “Charlie Brown Christmas” plays in the background. Go see a movie in the theater together as a big group. If you are the movie fan in the family, take the initiative to bring over the DVDs when you all get together to open presents.
In an era where the main holiday tradition in America is an exercise in isolation for many (Holiday shopping ) and families are divided by politics, work, and social media, we could all use some time with family that is focused on something we can all agree on: The Magic of Holiday Movies and Time With Family.
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